Do you ever argue with God?
"I can't do this...."
"What you're asking is too much...."
"This is impossible...."
Sometimes life just doesn't make sense to us, and we grapple to find hope or purpose when there's a mountain before us. Much-Afraid, in Hinds' Feet for High Places, showcases the same struggle:
“Oh Shepherd, you said you would make my feet like hinds’ feet and set me upon High Places.”
“Well,” he answered cheerily, “the only way to develop hinds’ feet is to go by the path which the hinds use—like this one.”
Much-Afraid trembled and looked at him shamefacedly. “I don’t think...I want...hinds’ feet, if it means I have to go on a path like that,” she answered painfully.
“Oh yes you do,” he answered cheerfully. “I know you better than you know yourself, Much-Afraid. You want it very much indeed, and I promise you these hinds’ feet.
“But I never dreamed you would do anything like this! Lead me to an impassable precipice up which nothing can go but deer and goats, when I’m no more like a deer or a goat than is a jellyfish… Why it’s too preposterously absurd! Whatever will you do next?”
“I love doing preposterous things,” the Shepherd replied, “Why, I don’t know anything more exhilarating and delightful than turning weakness into strength, and fear into faith, and that which has been marred into perfection.”
- Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard
Like Much-Afraid. sometimes it seems like God asks too much of me—that it's "preposterous". Or at times, I don't desire the end result enough to motivate me through the painful process.
But you know what's comforting in the midst of the mountains we don't want to climb?
It's not up to us.
While that can seem incredibly discouraging to our control-crazy selves, this is actually a wonderful benefit to us.
God always provides circumstances what will be best for us in the long-run. Not temporarily easy circumstances or perhaps what we want. But He is a loving Father who always does things for our good. He sees all, while we see only a tiny portion. God's not punishing us; He's doing what He knows will bring the greatest good.
If we surrender our wills and let Him gently push us in areas we don't want to go, we will bear greater fruit and benefit in our lives than we ever thought possible.
Let's trust Him. Let's rest in His goodness and care. That mountain may feel impossible, but God delights in revealing His strength in the impossible.
